Tag: ggn2020

2020 Great Graphic Novels for Teens List Announced

The official titles of YALSA’s 2020 Great Graphic Novels for Teens list have been announced.

The list consists of 103 titles selected from 178 official nominations, which were posted and discussed in blogposts on The Hub. The books, recommended for those ages 12-18, meet the criteria of both good quality literature and appealing reading for teens. View the full list.

In addition to the full list, the blogging team chose the following titles as its top ten:

  • Bloom. By Kevin Panetta. Art by Savanna Ganucheau. First Second. 2019. $17.99. ISBN: 978-1626726413.
  • Cosmoknights: Book One. By Hannah Templer. Art by the author. IDW Publishing. 2019. $19.99. ISBN: 978-1603094542.
  • I Was Their American Dream: a Graphic Memoir. By Malaka Gharib. Art by the author. Clarkson Potter. 2019. $16.99. ISBN: 978-0525575115.
  • Kiss Number 8. By Colleen AF Venable. Art by Ellen T. Crenshaw. First Second. 2019. $17.99. ISBN: 978-1596437098.
  • Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me. By Mariko Tamaki. Art by Rosemary Valero-O’Connell. First Second. 2019. $17.99. ISBN: 978-1626722590.
  • The Life of Frederick Douglass: A Graphic Narrative of a Slave’s Journey from Bondage to Freedom. By David F. Walker. Art by Damon Smyth, Marissa Louise. Ten Speed Press. 2019. $17.99. ISBN: 978-0399581441.
  • Pumpkinheads. By Rainbow Rowell. Art by Faith Erin Hicks. First Second. 2019. $17.99. ISBN: 978-1626721623.
  • Simon & Louise. By Max de Radigues. Art by the author. Conundrum International. 2019. $18.00. ISBN: 978-1772620351.
  • They Called Us Enemy. By George Takei and Justin Eisinger. Art by Harmony Becker. Top Shelf Productions. 2019. $19.99. ISBN: 978-1603094504.
  • Witch Hat Atelier. By Kamome Shirahama. Art by the author. 2019.
    • Vol. 1. Kodansha Comics. $12.99. ISBN: 978-1632367709.
    • Vol. 2. Kodansha Comics. $12.99. ISBN: 978-1632368041.
    • Vol. 3. Kodansha Comics. $12.99. ISBN: 978-1632368058.

The suggestion form for the 2021 Great Graphic Novels for Teens list is open. If you’d like to suggest a title to the blogging team for consideration as a nominee, please fill out the form.

A huge thank you goes out to the members of the 2020 Great Graphic Novels for Teens Blogging Team for all their hard work in reading and selecting all the titles. Thank you again!

Members of the 2020 Great Graphic Novels for Teens Blogging Team are: Tina H. Lerno, chair, Los Angeles Public Library, Los Angeles, CA; Megan Baird, Yuma County Library District, Yuma AZ; Crystal Chen, The New York Public Library, Bronx, NY; Erin Durrett, Clinton-Macomb Public Library,Clinton Township, MI; Traci Glass, Nashville Public Library, Nashville TN;Thea Hashagen, Mill Valley Public Library, Mill Valley, CA;Lindsey Helfrich, Sacramento Public Library, Sacramento, CA; Kali Olson, The Blake School, Minneapolis, MN; Christine Pyles, Euclid Public Library, Euclid, OH; Celeste Rhoads, The American Library in Paris, Paris France; Loren Spector, Los Angeles Public Library, Los Angeles, CA; Becky Standal, Longview Public Library, Longview, WA; Allie Stevens, Calhoun County Library, Hampton, AR; Audrey Sumser, Stark Library, Canton, OH.

Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2020) Nominees Round Up, November 28 Edition

Click here to see all of the current Great Graphic Novels nominees along with more information about the list and past years’ selections.

Making Friends: Back to the Drawing Board by Kristen Gudsnuk
Scholastic/Graphix
Publication Date: July 30, 2019
ISBN: 9781338139266

In 2018’s Making Friends, seventh-grader Dany discovers a magical notebook among her late aunt’s things that brings whatever is drawn in them to life, including friends, magical rings, and an evil (but good-looking) disembodied head. Making Friends: Back to the Drawing Board takes place soon after the events of the first one, with the gym at Melton Middle School, the location of the final showdown, still a hazard zone. And Dany still struggles with friendships, particularly with Cara, who she describes as “Madison and Aleesha’s friend (not mine).” When Cara tells Dany she’s annoying, Dany actually pays her to pretend to be her friend, but it doesn’t really help. Agonizing over going back to school, Dany decides to create a clone to do it for her. Cloney lives inside of a “pikkiball” (essentially a pokeball) in an amazing room that recalls I Dream of Jeannie, and Dany can stay inside the pikkiball, playing video games and watching Cloney live her life for her. Things become even more complicated when Cloney and Dany break a bottle in the basement while digging out her sister’s old math tests and unleash a magic dog on the town.

Continue reading Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2020) Nominees Round Up, November 28 Edition

Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2020) Nominees Round Up, November 21 Edition

Click here to see all of the current Great Graphic Novels nominees along with more information about the list and past years’ selections.

X-23, vol. 2: X-Assassin by Mariko Tamaki and Diego Oloregui
Marvel
Publication Date: August 13, 2019
ISBN: 978-1302916862

After a string of scientists are murdered, cloned sisters Laura and Gabby are called in to help the police with the investigation. While on a mission to intercept the killer of the next potential target, they discover that the killer is actually a new cloned version of themselves, the X-Assassin. Following her trail leads them back to their ultimate nemesis in their mission to stop the misuse of clone experimentation—their own creator—as well as an army of more X-Assassins. But killing the X-Assassins means killing the only biological family Laura and Gabby have. How can they stop the egregious cloning experimentation of their DNA without harming their new sisters?

Continue reading Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2020) Nominees Round Up, November 21 Edition

Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2020) Nominees Round Up, November 14 Edition

Click here to see all of the current Great Graphic Novels nominees along with more information about the list and past years’ selections.

King of King Court by Travis Dandro
Drawn and Quarterly
Publication Date: August 6, 2019
ISBN: 978-1770463592

Life wasn’t easy for Travis growing up with a drug-addicted birth father, alcoholic step-dad, and a depressed mom caught between them all. As a kid, Dandro would escape into his own world of make-believe, nature explorations, and drawing. The lasting effects of poverty, abuse, and addiction are laid bare in every page of this memoir. As Travis grows into a teenager and eventually adulthood, his drawings remain stuck in the past, as one can still see the hurt child deep inside.

Continue reading Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2020) Nominees Round Up, November 14 Edition

Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2020) Nominees Round Up, November 7 Edition

Click here to see all of the current Great Graphic Novels nominees along with more information about the list and past years’ selections.

Best Friends by Shannon Hale, illustrated by LeYuen Pham
First Second
Publication Date: August 27, 2019
ISBN: 978-1250317452

Shannon heads into sixth grade full of confidence and hope for the best year ever. Her best friend Jen is the most popular girl in school, and Shannon’s friends “The Group” are ready to rule the school at her side. But the final year of middle school soon turns into a minefield of dos and dont’s, and Shannon struggles to keep up with what’s cool and what’s not. Some boys are cute; some boys are weird. This TV show is a must-watch; this song is lame. Prank calls are funny; playground games are for babies. Girls should be pretty; girls should not be goofy. Shannon finds it nearly impossible to guess the right way to act and the rights things to say, and pressure to fit in with the in-crowd sends her anxiety levels through the roof. Stepping out from Jen’s shadow might be the only way for Shannon to be true to herself—even if it means admitting that her best friends aren’t the right friends anymore.

Continue reading Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2020) Nominees Round Up, November 7 Edition

Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2020) Nominees Round Up, October 31 Edition

Click here to see all of the current Great Graphic Novels nominees along with more information about the list and past years’ selections.

Sabrina the Teenage Witch by Kelly Thompson and Veronica Fish
Archie Comics
Publication Date: December 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-1682558058

In this reboot of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Sabrina Spellman has just moved to Greendale with her aunts Hilda and Zelda and their sassy talking cat (and former wizard), Salem. Sabrina blondes up her naturally white hair in an attempt to fit in better, but this falls to the bottom of her priority list when she is attacked by monsters outside of the high school. As Sabrina works to solve the mystery of the monsters and the surging magic in Greendale, she also catches the attention of love interests Harvey and Ren, makes friends with Jessa, and incurs the wrath of mean girl Radka. Continue reading Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2020) Nominees Round Up, October 31 Edition

Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2020) Nominees Round Up, October 24 Edition

Click here to see all of the current Great Graphic Novels nominees along with more information about the list and past years’ selections.

Grass by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim, translated by Janet Hong
Drawn and Quarterly
Publication Date: August 27, 2019
ISBN: 978-1770463622

Grass is the story of Lee Ok-sun, a Korean woman born into abject poverty and hard labor, denied any formal education, adopted out by her desperate parents, kidnapped off the street, and forced into sexual slavery as a “comfort woman” by the Japanese military during World War II. Upon liberation, Lee was outcast and homeless, eventually settling into an abusive marriage that kept her in China for the next fifty years before finally returning to Korea to reclaim her identity—and be rejected by her remaining family. Despite having “never known happiness from the moment I came out of my mother’s womb,” Lee is a survivor who refuses to be silent in the ongoing fight for comfort women to be recognized by the Japanese government. Lee’s story is not for the faint of heart, but author and artist Keum Suk Gendry-Kim tells it with compassion and respect, asking the reader to bear witness to these events, to face brutality head-on and endure.

Continue reading Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2020) Nominees Round Up, October 24 Edition

Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2020) Nominees Round Up, October 17 Edition

Click here to see all of the current Great Graphic Novels nominees along with more information about the list and past years’ selections. 

Ascender, vol. 1: The Haunted Galaxy by Jeff Lemire, illustrated by Dustin Nguyen
Image Comics
Publication Date: October 29, 2019
ISBN: 978-1534313484

Picking up 10 years after the events of the Descender series, Andy and his daughter, Mila are living as outsiders on the planet Sampson. Instead of machines ruling the universe, now it’s magic from the vampire queen, known only as Mother. Mother has outlawed all technology and will destroy any tech and it’s owners she and her militia find. The UGC rebels still exist and Mother is determined to find them, especially after finding out that they too have magic now through a nameless mage. One afternoon in the forest, Bandit, Andy’s old robot dog, crash lands on Sampson, much to the surprise and delight of Andy (and Mila…who has never seen a robot before). Bandit’s arrival sets the militia after Andy and Mila and they must get off-planet as fast as possible, but where will they go and how will they get there?

Continue reading Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2020) Nominees Round Up, October 17 Edition

Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2020) Nominees Round Up, October 10 Edition

Click here to see all of the current Great Graphic Novels nominees along with more information about the list and past years’ selections.

Skyward, vol. 3: Fix the World by Joe Henderson, Illustrated by Lee Garbett
Image Comics
Publication Date: September 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1534312432

Willa and Edison have split up in order to try to save the world. Edison is back in Chicago to warn everyone about the farmer/bug invasion headed their way and to come up with a plan to stop them. Willa is in Kansas City following her father’s last words to fix gravity, but Barrow is right behind her—trying to stop her. What neither of them realizes is that the “big red button” doesn’t actually fix gravity, it opens the path to the safe underground town, Crystal Springs, that Willa’s father built as a prototype city to protect people when gravity failed. Only gravity failed earlier than anticipated and the only people in the town are the ones who worked there previously. Now Willa is trapped in Crystal Springs and can’t get out to help Edison save Chicago.

Continue reading Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2020) Nominees Round Up, October 10 Edition

Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2020) Nominees Round Up, October 3 Edition

Click here to see all of the current Great Graphic Novels nominees along with more information about the list and past years’ selections.

LaGuardia by Nnedi Okorafor, art by Tana Ford
Berger Books
Publication Date: July 30, 2019
ISBN: 978-1506710754

In an alternate future where aliens have arrived and integrated into world society, Dr. Future, Nwafor Chukwuebuka, has just fled her home in Nigeria. Heavily pregnant and leaving her partner behind, Future lands at LaGuardia International and Interstellar Airport in New York with a secret: an illegal sentient alien plant named Letme Live, who is fleeing a genocide of his people. Future and Letme take refuge at the home of Future’s grandmother and settle in with a supportive community of human and alien immigrants and activists. But as the birth of her child grows closer, protests for and against alien immigration break out at home and abroad, and her partner searches for her from across the globe, Future must make choices that will change her world forever.

Continue reading Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2020) Nominees Round Up, October 3 Edition